LilyGo T5 S3 Pro - EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK!!!

[@UsefulClips]

This needs Meshtastic ASAP. NICE!

[@MTNLIFERANCH]

I agree! This is rad!

[@TheRealASN]

This

[@terryevans1976]

Agreed!

[@Silversqueeze2025]

I would buy it for meshtastic

[@nikkorocksalot5254]

For everybody asking what it is or what it does, it is an ESP 32 device and it does what those do, which is actually very flexible depending on what the firmware allows and what application is programmed for it. They are very limited on resources such as actual horsepower and give it as a and you could do with that what you need as far as an interface to control other more powerful objects or to link it to home, smart devices, mesh devices, etc. It's not something that is meant. Dw replace your Android or iPhone or anything like that. It is more like a pocketable e-paper touch display for your home. Automations temperatures, lighting and anything else. You can link the MS task deck or linking that to iftt

[@sh0]

It'd be great as a remote for Home Assistant

[@supakat1835]

I just got mine in the mail from LilyGo yesterday, & it's DOA out the package, there appears to very little support, don't waste your money.

[@Larimuss]

Esp32 is a little developer board you can get for $6 with wifi and Bluetooth, screen cost maybe $20-40, battery $10 etc. If the device cost $60 I'd buy it. But without looking I bet it's $150-$200. Hard pass. It's never the devices it's the cost. Just like the flipper is an overpriced to the max, $200 for $20 hardware with very basic coded gui. But I guess all electronics are like that.

[@RSJ_Tech]

Very cool Andy, good to see it when it’s running Ripple and/or Meshtastic code.

[@ExpediteTravels]

That's cool thanks Andy I just purchased a Lily Go t-deck plus just waiting for it to be shipped 😎👍👍🇨🇦

[@3vil8unny]

OMG another lilly go going in to my collection lol great video

[@lukasvolcik5109]

I love e-papers, but imagine having a really private conversation over it, you turn it off and leave it on your desk... and whole conversation remains on the screen for everyone to read 😂

[@dafoex]

I suppose the answer would be to blank the screen before powering down, but if you don't refresh the screen enough you still run the risk of it being readable with screen ghosting. e-Paper is great stuff, but you gotta think if it's the best for your needs. Here I think it's good because it's so low power, but you aren't going to be watching films on it any time soon.

[@live2serv]

Very cool, has quite enough screen space to be useful.

[@keithwhisman]

I’ve got a coworker with an e-paper watch that is just so cool looking

[@gfuentes8449]

no offense but are you going to tell us wtf it does

[@rawcado]

It's a portable black & white TV.

[@mossybank2000]

It’s a Meshtastic node

[@AdrianFourie]

It's an Eye phone 17....

[@bitrage.]

Lmfao!!! Exactly what I was thinking!!

[@PixlRainbow]

it's a tool for people to test prototypes of their programs. For programmers, "ESP32" is all he needed to say for us to know what it does.

[@dutchbachelor]

I have been searching for something like this for months!!! Bigger screen would be nice, but I'll take it. I just didn't want to have to come up with my own housing for an ESP32 + epaper combo. Applications: weather report, time, next upcoming appointment etc

[@jonmichaelgalindo]

You could set up library nodes that transmit public domain books to lora e-readers.

[@jaybrodnax]

Why don't you open with what it is/what it does?

[@A-AA-AAA-AAAA-AAAAA-b4u]

I can understand a lot of things, but I can't understand why there are dedicated clock and battery buttons :D

[@jamessummerlin9516]

It allows text messaging and location sharing without cellular or wifi connection. For use in emergency situations or remote locations.

[@civicsr2cool]

Wow this thing looks incredible!

[@rufuscollis303]

I want one already. What does it do?

[@evanjrowley]

I'd love to have a case for it that blocks all the ports and provides drop protection. I'm very keen on something like this as a dedicated interface to Home Assistant, or anything that would benefit from 1) a simple touch interface, and 2) being free from notifications/bloat/surveillance on a smartphone.

[@tempeleng]

just buy any old android that can run graphene os like the pixels and find a nice thick rubber case for it.

[@markdi2]

What can you do with it

[@hegedusuk]

So right now this is a device that tells you the battery capacity and lets you charge it. It also has a radio that tells you what frequency it’s using but doesn’t do anything. I’m confused. What’s it for?

[@perkunast9680]

Lora is a system, that can send messages with low power long distances. Metastatic is just fancy software used for texting each other. In other words this product can text each other long distances without using cellular or WIFI just radio waves. Its a bit experimental and things are moving along like he said, they don't even have the Metastatic firmware yet. The more people using this thing, and it will get better, they bounce off each radio extending reach.

[@kmemz]

I think they might be waiting for the Meshtastic UI to do firmware for this, I've used it a little and it has a pretty nice software keyboard, and a lot of the interface, while usable with arrow key/trackball, is much more touch or at least mouse friendly.

[@andryzoun]

But why isn't the circle button not symmetrical???

[@jmr]

Love to see what it looks like inside if that a possibility. I'd also like to know what gpio is left for add ons.

[@davocc2405]

Shows as $73 USD for me which isn't cheap, it's nicely integrated so it'll suit some niche applications. I'm wondering if there's battlefield messaging use for this actually though signals are an issue there.

[@Hendika]

a comparison video with m5paper would be great

[@Larimuss]

Please tell me this is affordable, has ebook reader, sd card or memeory, IR, and it would sell like wildfire as a great toy and kids/adult ebook reader witn amazing portability.

[@bigdaddybk8817]

This is a great example of a product launch for a product no one wants.

[@oimateusaqui]

2:32 can't wait for a 50 gray scales one

[@MaxSMoke777]

They STILL haven't made it right yet! It's ESP32, E-Paper, LORA, Keyboard. Without the keyboard, the LORA has little purpose. The E-Paper allows it to be super-low power. All together you have your "Apocalypse Messenger" device. Why can't somebody finally bring this all together?

[@tommacpherson9456]

Looks awesome! Just one really tiny little, minor thing: wtf is it supposed to be??! A smartphone replacement? A wireless hub? A rescue device? Am I a moron? Probably.

[@PixlRainbow]

It's a developer platform? You write your own programs and test them out on it to see what your ideas would feel like as a prototype. It's like a toy for developers, like the old Cybikos and the barbie PDA from 20 years ago.

[@markhaus]

It’s a prototyping device. They give you hardware and bare-bones software mostly as examples to follow when developing your own then we have to do the rest

[@ukrainehamradio]

With its help you can demonstrate to others that they are morons who cannot understand what it is)))

[@Linuxdirk]

@@markhaus But what apps you’re actually prototyping with it?

[@ALRinaldi]

@@Linuxdirkmesh networking I think?

[@cedricvickers4592]

What does it do?

[@MaxBrito-k5d]

Thank you for the review, LoRa is a top feature. It seems to have a 200 mAh battery and the range based on the previous T-Deck plus should reach 300 meters open air (without being inside buildings). GPS is an obvious downside but was also missing a speaker and microphone to make it perfect. Are these possible to add in future versions?

[@heftycat]

no find how to buy 5:09

[@thesmartI]

As sooon as this gets Meshtastic I'm buying 4

[@stevenpooley393]

love this device, it will be great for meshtastic, maybe a hardmounted solution

[@innercityprepper]

really curious to see how well typing works on e-paper.....

[@edwardfletcher7790]

LilyGo are TOTALLY kicking a$$ with their prototype gear 😮 It's like an ESP32 ePaper, Wifi, LoRa iPhone 👍 lol This video seems to have been exclusively promoted to the totally wrong crowd, there's a dozen mouth breathers on here all expecting you to explain it in Play School language 🙄

[@troymd2009]

Seeing some of the questions, it was obvious it got suggested to a casual tech review group. 😑 which is fine if they are new but they need to do a little research themselves before they start Commenting.

[@dukewaller7392]

Where can a noon go to understand this type of tech?

[@edwardfletcher7790]

@@dukewaller7392 I'd probably recommend a 48 min video by Dronebot Workshop called "Introduction to ESP32 - Getting Started" G00GLE ESP32 for beginners for more options... If you're not already familiar with microcontroller programming though it is a bit intense.

[@cheesefries7436]

@@troymd2009 Yup, they just want new stuff to be sold to them so the algorithm throws them anything "tech". They don't know nothin' bout nothin'.

[@alestbest]

It has a bright backlight unlike....

[@vinceparker2888]

That's crazy that it's sold out and it doesn't have meshtastic support yet.

[@EmhanceResponderDevelopment]

Looks like as Emhance gonna do some testing as soon as this has meshtastic!

[@uzvies]

Is there highier quality screen that doesnt flicker at every refresh. I’ve seen eink devices for note taking and they dont flicker..

[@girlyvoice3210]

The M5paper seems to be better

[@tellucas]

flash is there to clear out the ghosting with this type of display that occurs after displaying an image. on an i reader i could set it to full refresh every few page turns i stead of every.

[@jasongooden917]

Uh, what is it for?

[@JoeBleaux69]

What is it? What’s eps2037?

[@adorp]

Why does it need a separate battery management chip? I am doing a project right now that does battery management with the base ESP32. Is that not recommended?

[@strangelee4400]

It's a box...with wifi and ram and stuff!

[@rawcado]

Yeah Baby!! Need moar boxes. And stuffs.

[@dafoex]

I admit I've got a bias To any batch of silicon that be rocking a BIOS

[@mimetype]

It's a boring old esp32 worth 10p that's wrapped in stuff.

[@Linuxdirk]

And a clock that shows a date 25 years ago. And a screen with a refresh rate measured in seconds.

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

What will it do?

[@dafoex]

Whatever you programme it to do

[@HotMicSystems]

Reticulum would love this

[@andykirby]

Yeah, the Ripple firmware is making good progress hopefully soon the dev can two way messaging between RNodes (reticulum) and this device working.

[@jan3019]

when i see Lora, i dig it

[@LeonardHarris]

They really need to start making cell phones with this kind of screen so you can actually see it in daylight. I'm still confused as to what this device actually does and why I'd want one.

[@immersiontactics3565]

If you're into meshtastic, it will do that when the community builds it out. If you're a creative programmer, you can use this to do all sorts of nonsense.

[@holdthephoneboxing]

They won't. That would our eliminate accidental scrying on black mirrors and they would never do that for us.

[@0xKruzr]

I have a Boox Palma 2 -- also an e-paper (e-ink specifically) device that I got specifically for working with Meshtastic outdoors. Android 13, great display with fantastic visibility in the sunshine and a good frontlight for use at night, good performance, BT 5.0, WiFi, etc. -- it's basically an e-ink phone without a cellular radio. Also turned out to be super easy to root it for superuser access so you can do things like back up entire apps and their data in a specific state. Let me know if you want me to test it with anything specific.

[@andykirby]

Cool! Are you in my discord? Would you mind sending me a video of the meshtastic app running on the boox and entering texts on the on screen keyboard?😁 Here's a Discord invite! discord.gg/p7HKCES8

[@ppqp83]

I second Andy's proposal.

[@georgeweisenheimer1433]

It could be a Alternative for the outdatet Palm Pilots.

[@szentagostonka]

E book reader?

[@michelbrisebois4317]

0 with a dot means zero, to differenciate with the letter O.

[@4697leel]

Wonder if a touch keyboard is possible for messages?

[@andykirby]

I think you can do partial refresh of the screen so it should be possible

[@goiterlanternbase]

@@andykirby A screen refresh after each letter, will cause brain hemorrhage🤣 But i be glad that the T5 is an open device. I can put on any display i like😎

[@LarryStone-q6r]

3:20 is that flickering really that bad or is that an artifact of the video?

[@andykirby]

Its the led lights I use in the studio. It doesn't flicker to the naked eye.

[@AndreVictorGoncalves]

​@@andykirby Hello, great video! Can you do later a comparison between it and the m5paper, please?

[@warthogA10]

​@@andykirbyit can flicker to the naked eye if you code it to..

[@defendermods9420]

What is it?

[@jan3019]

off-grid communication device maybe

[@rawcado]

More imortant is what isn't it.

[@PixlRainbow]

Developer tool. Like a toy for programmers.

[@dafoex]

@PixlRaibow I'd argue it's more than a toy since you can use them for serious prototyping work, but yes, that's an accurate description

[@warthogA10]

Whatever you want it to be

[@IndependentNewsMedia]

Nice overview video, God bless.

[@KetansaCreatesArt]

Cool. What does it do?

[@julirix]

Whatever you program it for. This is not a product for end consumers but for DIYers looking for a finished hardware product. Many people might use it for meshtastic or for homeassistent

[@tdata545]

is it just an onyxboox phone? with less "PHONE" in it and more "TABLET"

[@PixlRainbow]

nope, it's not a smart device at all. It's a mesh radio devkit. It's for developers who want to test how their own programs would work on the platform.

[@tdata545]

@@PixlRainbow I have a T Deck Plus, I'm familiar with this line of products.

[@PixlRainbow]

@@tdata545 ah okay sorry, just watching out since there are a lot of people in these comments who are unfamiliar with the entire category of DIY-ish hardware.

[@tdata545]

@@PixlRainbow No probs.

[@randylayman965]

Does this have GPS module?

[@andykirby]

No

[@rawcado]

@@andykirby Did @randylayman965 watch the video?

[@davet9900]

It would be cool if you could review the raspberry pi geobox

[@Infamouswolf83]

I wish it had color

[@swedishpsychopath8795]

What is it for? Is it a phone? Does it have a government assigned IMEI number that is linked to the owner?

[@ytfp]

like the arctic... or the UK... lol

[@dafoex]

Almost disappointed there's no SIM slot, haha

[@registromalplena2514]

2-minute the screen isn't mat; I don't like how glossy and reflective it is.

[@hansmaier3689]

Why ESP32 🤷‍♂️

[@mzimmerman1988]

very cool

[@mcwooley]

A screen should be a combination of color epaper, a translucent color LED display above that, and an MIP LCD screen above that (no panel) It should also have a refreshable tactile display (even if it's only one 6-bit character output for reading) 2 touches at once isn't enough, the maximum should be at least 10 16 shades of gray is pretty embarassing, my Hisense A5 Pro CCs had 4096 colors

[@Speedybac]

Its a cell phone back in the day...😮 So.. im curious, what the draw back with e-paper with fast refresh like juste a blink...🤔 - Power consumption? - CPU or hardware limitations? - screen longevity...? (Back light or not ?) 😮😊😊😊

[@markifi]

very thin bezels for an e-ink device

[@GerhardPeter-dh5sf]

BLE and GPS missing 😢

[@simonrichards150]

It has BLE

[@kenneth6731]

Does it put out a full 1Watt? I'm not buying another device unless it does!

[@MalachiBurke]

Lilygo hardware is cool, and their customer support for hardware issues is not bad. But the software support is awful. I have the previous version of this product, the T5 4.7" 2.3 and there is no ESP-IDF support for it, and none coming. $50 not well spent.

[@AChrisPostal]

Silly high price kinda eliminates any utility this could have. At $20 to $30 it would be something to consider.

[@DypoMage]

And? Did you demonstrate what it does? I am not interested only of the settings...

[@PixlRainbow]

It's for developers. The expectation is that you write your own programs. It doesn't come with anything beyond drivers out of the box.

[@DypoMage]

@@PixlRainbow , it might has been a good idea to tell that in the video!

[@PixlRainbow]

​@@DypoMage when he says "ESP32", that is a commonly used wireless microcontroller chip which will be familiar with many hardware hackers/DIYers.

[@EasyOne]

nice

[@angelagosto2911]

I watched the entire video and still have no idea what its used for. You show no real world example of how you would go about using this item.

[@andykirby]

It's a development device, like all the other ESP32 devices out there 😁

[@angelagosto2911]

@ okay. What are you developing?

[@angelagosto2911]

@ I guess is coding that i have no understanding of.

[@andykirby]

Mesh Radio software, like meshtastic and ripple and reticulum etc.

[@angelagosto2911]

@@andykirby thank you 🙏🏼

[@glsracer]

This is really cool but the lack of GPS is a bummer. I guess this would probably be for linking with a phone so maybe it's not there because of that.

[@PatriotOnTour]

Muuuah! Great! This little guy HAS an SD-Slot - Samsung S24 has NOT! #Samsung look here - This is the right way!😁

[@C4christiannn]

literally watch dogs 😂

[@unoarecare5728]

We want also: solar panel to be rechargeable, improved meshtastic for blockchain to be paid for being online and send/receive money.

[@MyTube4Utoo]

I love my gadgets, and this one looks nice. Hopefully they'll add a GPS.

[@quarteratom]

Why would you need GPS in an ereader?

[@gshockhodinky]

👍🏼😮👍🏼

[@zillafact]

Am not sure exactly what am watching

[@darrenwilliams8218]

A year and six days later I aborted the video not knowing what this thing is. Time to get my life back together.

[@zapa47]

annnnnd its gone.

[@BPBomber]

Wtf do you do with it?

[@PixlRainbow]

you write programs and fuck around. It's for developers.

[@krimke881]

I'ts quite incredble. that 1min in, there's absolutely no explanation to what the heck you are going to present. =P

[@andykirby]

Right at the beginning, I say it's an ESP32 device. It's basically a development platform.

[@coffinails1974]

Would be nice with a larger battery to be used as a portable charger for devices as well.

[@mandh14]

Wonder how long it'll take before there is a browser with b&w porn pics just like the good old WAP days.

[@mr.perfect1067]

Cant you tell whats this device going to do is it a remote control or a consol 😢you needs to learn how dont waste time of people. Not everyone is aware of technology, you have to tell first general information about product, later tecnical detailing.

[@lumixS5M2]

long story in short, i not see it working

[@zaphhood4745]

But what does it do ?

[@minigpracing3068]

Need a T-Deck with color eink display.

[@Ralokan]

Thanks for showing something you can’t get as you are reviewing 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@russellzauner]

Cost should drop some when they get it on RISCV vs Xtensa which is closed IP.

[@tacolover619]

They look cool, but we can NEVER program them, and their support is horrible!

[@lilygoactivities2783]

! The support team has stepped up!😭

[@tacolover619]

@@lilygoactivities2783 Does not matter if they cannot be programmed.

[@mt-qc2qh]

Overall a nice unit, but that refresh will drive me crazy. I'd rather stick with oled.

[@chublez]

For the right battery life it's tolerable for what I'd use it for.

[@assistantto007]

Looks like something from temu , as in , it costs , but it's rubbish

[@circuithijacker]

No find no card

[@huawei755]

This is depressing..